Intentions matter. They matter more in some cases than in others. They can get you into trouble. They can save your butt in a crisis. They can motivate a person or deflate them. They can even start movements, personal and political, that lead to revolution. But I’m not talking about something so grand here. No, my intentions were smaller, less revolutionary.
I had intended to write another short story today for you all. This one was going to be Owen’s adventures with raising five kids as a stay-at-home-dad and the story surrounding the circumstances where he found out that his four oldest kids and Zanny had decided to recreate that waterslide. You all know the one I’m talking about, right?
Well. Yeah. That didn’t happen. See, it was our HVAC guy’s intentions to have installed our new heat pump today. Instead, we ended up with a Situation. There’s a Very Important Pipe in the way that has to be worked around. A pipe whose presence we weren’t counting on or expecting. Since our existing unit is still working, we ended up rescheduling for next week once we’ve all had a chance to collect ourselves and figure out how best to proceed. They have a solution in mind, and they just have to double-check to make sure it’s going to work. Fair enough.
Unfortunately, this also means no working stove until the day of the heat pump install. The new gas stove was delivered today, and it is an awesome-looking hunk of equipment. But there’s no gas line to tie it into, so… we’re batching it, I guess you could say. Two Instant Pots, a toaster oven, and a butane burner. It’s all good. No, no microwave – they terrify me and I unintentionally cause them to explode and do weird things, which is why they terrify me. That’s fine and well and good with something like say… a blender. Not so much when you’re talking a radiation-producing appliance that could fry you if it took a notion to do so.
The stove “installation” didn’t go as planned either – apparently, our local Sears and the .com version of Sears have a bit of a… battle going on. They’re not on the same page, let’s say. It comes back to those intentions, you see. They lead to expectations, and unless intentions and expectations are made clear by all parties concerned, this can lead to disappointment and disgruntlement. We were expecting delivery and installation with removal of the old stove, they were expecting to simply drop the new unit off. Uh… no. Fortunately, the delivery guys were really nice and it was straightened out on our end. However, I’m staying out of the warzone that is their end. Their manager can fight it out with the .com. I’m saving my energy for other battles, like the unexpected or unintended consequences of having no stove for a week. Hello takeout? Not so much on our diets, but maybe tonight. Definitely tonight. And that’s okay. It’ll be an interesting challenge. Probably not as hard as I’m expecting it to be. I certainly intend to be flexible. We’ll see if that holds true. 😉 If it does, I’ll be the opposite of disappointed, which is always a benefit of having a pragmatic, pessimistic view of what can happen.
As for Owen and his adventures with his mischievous brood, I’ll get to him sooner rather than later. This weekend hopefully, but certainly next week if not. I have intentions, you see.
Happy Reading!
T. L.